Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child.
Isaiah's last chapter announces a birth in words that turn nature upside down. The child arrives before the labour. That raises two questions: who is this son, and why is there no pain?
One writer compares this birth with the other Scriptures about Zion giving birth:
Another Scripture speaks of Zion's bringing forth, but it is of a very different kind. In the last chapter of Isaiah the reference is to a birth, but there it happens in one day... this passage in Isaiah 66 stands in contrast with the others. The circumstances mentioned are the exact reverse of those that go with a natural birth.
One writer explains how Israel's anguish and the birth of Christ fit together:
It may be hard to square Israel's anguish in labour with what actually happened when Christ was born... The labour and pain refer to Israel's coming hour of trial, the Great Tribulation. But the Messiah, the Man-Child, is born before that great event... The woman's labour comes at least two thousand years after the birth of the Messiah. It refers to her sorrow in the coming Tribulation.
Verse 7 and verse 8 are not saying the same thing twice. One writer separates them, and shows who the first child is and why everything hangs on Him:
In verse 7 we read of the "Man Child." Do not confuse Him with the "nation," Zion's "children," at the end of the next verse. They come to birth naturally, at the proper time. In the case of the "Man Child" it is extraordinary; it is exceptional, and remarkable. All the hopes of a nation, especially of Israel, according to the promises of God, centre in a Man Child. Israel will be brought as low as it can possibly go. How then will God's promises to them be made good? This remarkable "Man Child," who comes on the scene at the very time of Israel's distress, is the answer. ... But the "Man Child" — the Seed of David, the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of the woman — is the Sign of God, and the divine explanation of it all. He is there. And the tiny remnant will be able to say, in the face of all their enemies, "EMMANUEL!" "GOD IS WITH US!"
Childbirth has always carried pain. One writer explains why this birth is different:
Zion will then be the mother — the Zion of the land of Israel — just as the "Jerusalem above" is the mother now. The ancient pain and penalty will be taken off. God will no longer say to her, "in sorrow you shall bring forth children," but "as soon as Zion was in labour, she brought forth her children." This is because the Lord is there, acting in His own power. "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, says the Lord?"
After the son comes a whole nation, appearing in a single day:
Shall a nation be born at once? is the question asked in surprise. And the answer is quite clearly — Yes, it will... The Israel that will enter the blessing of the thousand-year kingdom will be a new Israel, born again and so cleansed from their old life and ways.
Commentators differ over what that birth means. Another writer takes it as national, not individual:
Some say Israel must believe as a nation, that the nation will be born in a day, and that Zion is in labour and brings forth. But it is surely wrong to take that as new birth, a truth the Old Testament never speaks of as such. At the time of their deliverance the remnant will come to the birth, as the new nation of Israel. That is true, and that is what this means. The idea that as individuals they were not born again before is unwarranted and false.
No past disaster in Jerusalem's history matches what Isaiah describes here:
Rome's destruction of Jerusalem was no real fulfilment of this, but it will be fulfilled to the letter, as many prophecies say... Then will follow the new birth, the gathering in of Zion's children. They will no longer be Abraham's seed in name only, but his children in deed and in truth. Nothing of the kind followed Nebuchadnezzar's capture of the city, and nothing followed when Titus took Jerusalem.
- Before — the whole verse turns on that one word. The birth comes ahead of the labour, the exact reverse of the natural order.
- The Son first — the Man Child is Christ, born long before the nation's hour of anguish. The long gap between His birth and their pain goes unmentioned.
- The children next — verse 7 gives a son, verse 8 gives a people. Do not confuse the extraordinary birth with the natural one.
- No sorrow — the ancient penalty on childbirth is gone, because the Lord Himself is there and at work.
- Not yet — neither Babylon nor Rome fulfilled this. God has still to gather Zion's children, Abraham's children in truth and not in name only.
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Can a land be made to bring forth in one day? shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her sons.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.